Both candidates for Mexico's Anipac aim to boost group's image

MEXICO CITY — The only two candidates vying for the presidency of Anipac, Mexico’s plastics industry association, both say they would strive to improve the organization’s public image if elected.

Francisco de Caso Peláez, of the so-called Blue ticket, writes in his manifesto that he and his team would “widen the options for disseminating [news about Anipac] and promoting the association in foreign specialized magazines.”

In his presentation, Carlos Alberto Saldate Paton, of the rival Green ticket, writes that he and his colleagues would “strengthen the association’s ties with the news media and leaders of opinion.”

He adds that the “reputation and positioning [of the plastics sector] is a path that requires work. We will publicize the issues of interest to Anipac, project Anipac’s corporate image and institutionalize the codes of communication both within the association and without.”

He adds that, if elected, he and his team would “spread the word about the benefits and usefulness of plastics in everyday life” through editorials in traditional news media, via technical and statistical bulletins and on the web.

Under its outgoing president, José Anselmo del Cueto Gracia, Anipac has kept a relatively low PR profile over the past two years, organizing just one formal news conference in that time.

De Caso Peláez is a partner in Mexican flexible packaging company Minigrip de México SA de CV, whose clients include Gatorade, Henkel and Bimbo, according to its Web page.

In another part of his work plan, De Caso Peláez writes that he will support efforts to help the Mexican plastics industry “recover markets that have been lost to imports” and “formulate and execute” an exports promotion program for plastics products.

Saldate Paton, managing director of Bio Reciclados Folgueiras SAPI de CV, proposes, among other suggestions, “professionalizing” Anipac’s staff and signing agreements with technological and academic institutions to increase the number and quality of training programs.

He adds that the ticket he leads would “reposition the image and credibility of the association as a reliable, accurate and expeditious source of information for government, the industry and civil society.”

Balloting is scheduled for April 8. The presidential term is for two years. Anipac, which stands for Asociación Nacional de Industrias del Plástico AC, is in its 53rd year. Based in Mexico City, it has 232 member companies.

Saldate Paton told Plastics News by telephone that Mexico has 4,000-plus plastics processors. Some 60 percent are small-medium (they are known as Pymes), 24 percent are small, 12 percent are medium and 4 percent are large.

His team would reach out to non-Anipac members and try to unite the industry under the Anipac roof. The association is particularly interested in attracting processors, he said.